Music publisher Hal Leonard Europe (HLE) has announced a new sponsorship agreement with leading music charity Music for Youth. HLE will contribute to funding for Music for Youth’s Music Mentors programme.
Described as the charity’s ‘eyes and ears’, Music Mentors play an important role in the delivery of Music for Youth initiatives across the UK.
The Mentors are music professionals recruited and trained to provide encouragement, advice and support for young music makers and their leaders. Mentors represent a diverse range of musical cultures and bring a variety of expertise to aid progression and development for musicians and music educators via Music for Youth events and by offering advice and guidance via personal ‘Mentor-on-Call’ sessions.
HLE’s support will help to expand and diversify the programme, with more mentors recruited and trained up, and will also back case-study research to measure the impact of the initiative and inform future work.
Tom Farncombe, Business Development Director Hal Leonard Europe, said, ‘We are delighted to announce this partnership and are honoured to be working with Music for Youth. The Music Mentors scheme is a tremendous way to nurture young musicians and provide much-needed professional development for music leaders. Music educators are absolutely critical to the music ecosystem, and it is so important that we support them with initiatives such as this, setting people on course for lifelong music-making.’
Music for Youth CEO Judith Webster said, ‘Over the course of the pandemic, Music for Youth has witnessed the incredible efforts by music educators across the UK to be there for young musicians and support their music-making through difficult times. We are delighted that Hal Leonard Europe is backing our newly developed mentoring offer which demonstrates Music for Youth’s role in connecting professionals from the music education sector with the wider music industry, for the ultimate benefit of young musicians.’
